The Michigan Affordability and Advocacy Coalition (University of Michigan) records includes two versions of the publication, "Being Not-Rich at UM: A Guide." Both versions—which are dated to April 2018 and October 2018—provide information on a range of topics, including employment, housing, food, on-campus resources, and finances. Also included is a related "Chronicle of Higher Education" article on the guide.
In January 2018, the University of Michigan's Central Student Government (CGS) released a campus affordability guide. While intended to help university students reduce their expenses and save money, the CGS guide was critiqued because some of its recommendations were deemed impractical for university students with lower incomes. Lauren Schandevel, a University of Michigan student, began developing an alternative guide that was intended for marginalized students, such as those with limited incomes or who were first generation students. After laying its foundation, she invited other community members to build up the resource. Over time, students, faculty, and staff contributed dozens of pages worth of content to this crowdsourced guide, which was entitled "Being Not-Rich at UM: A Guide." "Being Not-Rich at UM" attained national recognition in the following months and was featured in publications such as the "Chronicle of Higher Education." Additionally, students attending colleges across the United States, such as the University of Texas at Austin, created their own versions of the University of Michigan guide.
In March 2018, Schandevel and Griffin St. Onge—an early and significant contributor to "Being Not-Rich at UM"—co-founded the Michigan Affordability and Advocacy Coalition (MAAC). Viewed by the guide's creators as a continuation their crowdsourced publication, this activist UM student organization supports university and Ann Arbor community members and advocates on issues relating to food security, health, housing, and workers' rights.
MAAC was later renamed Affordable Michigan.
